The commercial marketing of laundry detergent products often involves the use of distinctive product aesthetics to help differentiate one given product from other commercially available products of the same general type. Colored, e.g., dyed or pigmented, particles such as speckles or beads are sometimes used to create such distinctiveness. Generally, distinct particles in detergent products should be larger than 200 microns to be easily visible to the consumer (although in certain circumstances much smaller particles may also be visible).
The presence of visibly distinct particles such as beads in detergent products can provide a signal to the consumer that the product has been changed and improved from previously marketed or available products without such beads. Thus, such a signal can serve to indicate that altered, new and/or additional fabric cleaning and/or fabric treatment ingredients have been added to the product or that the product contains ingredients which alter the overall laundering experience of using the product. Such new or additional ingredients may actually be incorporated into the visible beads themselves or may simply be incorporated into the bulk matrix of the product with their presence signaled by the beads. If new and/or additional detergent composition components are incorporated into the visibly distinct beads, such beads may then serve the additional purpose of helping to stabilize or protect such incorporated detergent product ingredients from interaction with or degradation by other components of the composition.
In a granular detergent context, suspension of visible particles in the product is fairly straightforward. This is because the formulator is free to chose visibly distinct, e.g., dyed or pigmented, particles which can be matched in density and particle size to the bulk granular detergent. Such particles are easily dispersed throughout the granular matrix, and there is little likelihood of destructive interaction beween the visible particles and the other matrix ingredients.
In a liquid detergent context, however, and especially with respect to aqueous liquid laundry detergents, it is a challenge to stably suspend particles and to have such particles not become problematic when the detergent product is made, shipped, stored and/or used. The formulator must use beads which are both relatively insoluble in the aqueous liquid detergent matrix and are strong enough to withstand the rigors of commercial scale detergent composition preparation, shipping and distribution. Yet these same beads must also suitably dissolve or disintegrate when the detergent product is used to form a laundry washing solution or liquor. Suitable dissolution or disintegration, of course, means that the beads must dissolve or disintegrate within the wash liquor to the extent that the beads or remants thereof do not leave visible residues on fabrics being laundered.
Preferred suspension of the beads also requires suitable formulation of the aqueous liquid matrix of the detergent product. To stably suspend beads, liquid compositions should ideally be “structured” so that the liquid portion thereof has suitable Theological characteristics. Thus the matrix rheology must be such that it is sufficiently viscous that the beads do not settle out of the product upon prolonged storage yet not so viscous that the product cannot be readily poured. Thus also ideally any “structurant” material which is added to the composition would be one which imparts “shear-thinning” characteristics to the matrix without creating any aesthetic or other difficulties such as opacity, instability or unacceptable expense.
Finally preferred utilization of the suspended beads to carry and protect detergent composition ingredients requires selection of particular types of bead materials and carried components. If beads are used for this preferred purpose, the beads must be constructed so as to partially or completely isolate the carried materials from any other components in the composition which might be incompatible with such carried ingredients. Yet the beads must also be able to suitably release their carried ingredient into the wash liquor when the composition is used to launder fabrics.
Given the foregoing, there is a continuing need to identify materials, component combinations and procedures which can be used to suitably impart desirable aesthetic and performance characteristics to aqueous liquid detergent products by means of incorporating visibly distinct beads thereinto. Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to formulate aqueous liquid laundry detergent compositions having aesthetics-altering, visibly distinct beads therein.
It is a further object of the present invention to stably suspend such visibly distinct beads within preferred liquid detergent products.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide beads which impart desirable aesthetics to concentrated aqueous liquid detergent products but which do not leave visible residues on fabrics or otherwise interfere with the laundering operations that use such products.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide preferred aqueous liquid detergent compositions which utilize visibly distinct beads suspended therein to carry, protect and release into the wash liquor one or more active laundry detergent composition adjuncts.
It has now been found that there are selected combinations of means and materials suitable for preparation of beads and the liquid detergent compositions into which such beads are added in order to achieve the forgoing objectives with respect to formulation of the bead-containing liquid detergent products herein.